Floor Remarks by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Senate President Pro Tempore
"Oversight Accomplishments of the 118th Congress"
Thursday, February 20, 2025

VIDEO

I take Congress’ constitutional oversight mandate very seriously.

What you learn in eighth grade civics, [our] oversight responsibility is checks and balances of government.

In the 118th Congress, as Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, I established the committee’s very first Oversight and [Investigations] Unit.

Its oversight touched on 97% of government taxpayer-funded agencies — sending over 600 oversight letters to federal, state and private sector entities. 

Last year, my team sent over one letter per day on average.

That oversight unit launched the committee’s first subpoena since 1991 and obtained records uncovering brand new information about Credit Suisse’s servicing of Nazi accounts. 

I thank then-Chairman Whitehouse for issuing that subpeona.

I also hosted oversight roundtables where whistleblowers exposed the Biden administration’s failures at the Southern Border to collect DNA and protect unaccompanied children.  

My investigation resulted in a referral to law enforcement to find and protect unaccompanied children who were brought here in violation of our laws.

The federal government had a responsibility to make sure they were protected.

My oversight team made records public and performed interviews to ensure accountability following the assassination attempt on President Trump in Pennsylvania.

I published data for an EPA grant program showing most taxpayer money wasn’t spent like the law required.

My oversight also uncovered:

  • Abuses by the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force;
  • FBI political bias in the Hunter Biden investigation and prosecution;
  • The Obama-Biden State Department’s obstruction of law enforcement efforts against Iran;
  • Wasted money on misclassified ATF employees;
  • Private equity investments exploiting health care and damaging hospitals, even in Ottumwa, Iowa;
  • Department of Justice shortchanging the Crime Victim’s Fund, so those victims didn't get the money that they were entitled to;
  • Excessive DOD spending on spare parts and price gouging. In response to that, I got legislation passed to fix that problem. 

My oversight team also worked to protect whistleblowers and forced government agencies to amend their policies to comply with federal whistleblower laws.

So, we're in the 119th Congress. 

As this Congress gets underway, I have become Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

My oversight is already full-speed-ahead, and I look forward to what the next couple of years produce.

We want to guarantee the executive branch faithfully executes the laws, as the constitution requires, and to expose waste, fraud and abuse in the wasting of taxpayers' money.

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